MUMBAI, India — Last month, weeks after tens of thousands of students took to the streets of New Delhi demanding education reform, Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally broke his silence on the seven-week protests. Modi said he was aware of how corruption in India's examination systems had affected them, and he was working to fix it. The reel — shot chin-first, uploaded at midnight — inspired countless parodies.
Undaunted, the 75-year-old leader put up more reels over the next few days addressing his "friends," as he referred to the protesting youth. Over the next few weeks, many of his ministers appeared to increase their frequency of posting on Instagram too. This was a reaction to nationwide protests by a youth-led movement known as the Cockroach Janta Party, a name that emerged from its origins as an internet meme.
It has since become a political force that ousted the education minister and posed the biggest challenge to the Modi government in years. Over two months, the protesters and their supporters – most who appeared to be digitally-savvy GenZ – used Instagram and Snapchat to connect, organize, and share countless reels parodying the government. And Modi's efforts to respond spotlight how, for the first time in its 12-year-rule, the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP appears to be playing catch-up instead of setting the agenda – both politically and on social media, where it once dominated.
Even as Modi and his ministers go on a charm offensive, local media report Indian police booked thousands on criminal charges. The digital rights group Software Freedom Law Centre told NPR of unprecedented social media censorship by the government on platforms like Meta and X, mainly blocking of posts critical of Modi and his government. Some critics report being verbally abused, doxxed, and even threatened with rape and death by BJP supporters.
The government is yet to announce any action against security forces involved in violent clashes in July, where they used batons, tear gas, and pellet guns against protesters. The India chapter of Amnesty International called it "state-sanctioned violence masked as crowd control." Leaders of the Cockroach Party say the prosecution was a betrayal of the government's promise to its leaders to give amnesty to protesters. On Tuesday, India's top court ordered the government to drop criminal charges against the protesters.
The Cockroach Janta Party hailed the court's order as "a big victory for the students!" The court's decision came just over a week after the Cockroach Janta Party warned of another protest march. For years, India's ruling party adopted a top-down communication strategy. Its dedicated IT cell used Facebook, X and WhatsApp for voter outreach.
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